The invention relates to portable charcoal briquette igniters or ignition systems that are used with portable outdoor grills using charcoal briquettes for fuel.
In the prior art there are generally two types of igniters that are used for igniting charcoal, namely those igniters in which the air is mixed with the pressurized gaseous fuel before the latter is discharged to a combustion zone, and those where the air is mixed with the pressurized gaseous fuel after it is discharged into the combustion zone. A typical example of the former type is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,653, while examples of the latter type are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,410,261 and 3,589,312.
Among the disadvantages associated with igniters which rely on the ignition of a pressurized gaseous fuel that has been premixed with air is that the igniters are more expensive to manufacture and hence more costly to the purchasing public for reasons, among others, that such igniters require many additional interfitting parts in order to facilitate the mixing of the air and fuel before its issuance into the combustion zone. Additionally, the orifices through which the mixture is discharged to the combustion zone often become clogged with debris through neglect and this results in a tendency for the pressurized gaseous fuel to back up and pass outwardly through the air intake sytem. This occasionally results in a flashback through the air intake system and which is, of course, dangerous to anyone in the vicinity of the igniter.
The ignition systems which fail to provide for mixing of the air and gaseous fuel before its issuance into the combustion zone also have disadvantages. For one, when the gaseous discharge orifices are located deep in a pile of charcoal briquettes, there is often insufficient opportunity for the air and gas to adequately mix before it reaches the peripheral regions of the pile of charcoal briquettes. As such, combustion primarily takes place in the peripheral regions of the charcoal pile and the center region of the pile becomes ignited thereafter. This results in an excess of fuel consumption by the ignition system and often a nonuniformly ignited pile of charcoal briquettes when the igniter is removed. Regardless of the type ignition encountered there is the ever present problem of providing an ignition that can be safely handled and also adapted for use with portable charcoal grills of varying sizes and designs.